A Fishy Story

In the creation narrative of the book of Genesis, we find reference to God creating the birds of the air,
sea creatures (including fish), land animals, and finally human beings.  In the Gospel accounts, we find mention of Jesus performing the miracle of multiplying bread and fish so that there was enough for everybody to eat. We also find Jesus saying to His prospective disciples "Follow me and I will make you fishers of people."


While the Bible does not abound in "fishy" stories, there is one particular one that I would like to use for this article.  It is the story of the prophet Jonah.  The narrative is a very interesting one.  I have used it in sermons that I have delivered in churches and in worship services in the prison in my work as a chaplain.


We are told in the book of Jonah, that God called Jonah so that he could preach to the people of Nineveh, and tell them to repent and straighten out their ways so that they could obtain forgiveness and mercy from God.   Because of his possible racist attitudes, (Jonah was a Hebrew), Jonah did not want to go through the trouble of proclaiming a message that would probably result in the people mending their ways and finding favor with God.  He (like many Hebrews/Jews of his time,) wanted
the blessings, favor, grace, and mercy of God to be available only to his people.  Subsequently, in
order to avoid the task which God was assigning to him, he paid a ticket for a ship heading in another direction.  The poor foolish lad did not know that "we can run, but we can't hide" from God.


From the description given in the book, it appeared that it was more of a navy ship than a cruise ship. But perhaps Jonah thought that he would be on a cruise heading for the Caribbean where he could eat, dance, and party all night long, and at the same time forget about those poor slobs in Nineveh, who deserved nothing other than misery and annihilation.   But God had other plans for him according to the story, and sent a storm that buffeted the ship.  We are told that when the sailors found Jonah below the deck, they urged him to call upon his god.  Their god had not listened to them and the storm continued.  After much discussion, he finally identified himself as a Hebrew who "worshipped Yahweh" (the God of the Hebrews)." He had already told them that he was running away from God, and that in effect, he was the guilty party for bringing this calamity upon his fellow travelers.  After the storm intensified, they took his previous advice and threw him overboard into the sea, and the sea storm came to an end.


The interesting part of the story is that while he was in the sea, he was swallowed, though not devoured, by a fish, and spent three days and three nights (possible foreshadow of Jesus's death?)
In the time that he was in the belly of the fish, he prayed to God and was subsequently released, and then relented, and decided, with disappointment, albeit, to respond to God's call.


The part that I would like us to consider is the story itself and its relevancy to faith.  Subsequently, I ask the following questions:


1.  Was this a story that we are to take literally as an actual historical event or is this a legend or myth that points beyond itself to a higher truth?


2.  Is it possible that the literary genre of the book of Jonah is one of allegory and symbolism?


3.  Does it really matter whether the story was literally true or not?  Will our faith in and relationship with God be affected by whether we take the story as literally true or whether we understand it as a legend and myth?


4.  Does taking a Bible message seriously mean that we have to become biblical literalists?


Please share with us your perspective on these issues.  I am sure that whatever your response is,
you will be giving us food for thought.


Brother, colleague, and friend,


Juan Ayala-Carmona